TD critical of rushed Mother and Baby Homes Bill

A local TD has criticised what she believes is the haste with which the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes Bill is being rushed through Leinster house.

Sinn Féin’s Pauline Tully believes the Mother and Baby Homes records should be deposited with Minister, and that access to personal data should also be permitted.

The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters was established in 2015, when it was tasked to provide ‘a literature-based academic social history module to establish an objective and comprehensive historical analysis of significant matters’.

After several extensions to the original time-frame, the commission is set to present its report to Government at the end of this month.

As a result, the issue of the disposition of its extensive archive now has to be dealt with.

Last week in the Seanad it was agreed to ask the commission to consult those interviewed to ascertain their individual wishes as to the confidentiality of their records from the institutions, other agencies, and those created by the commission in its work.

But Deputy Tully stated: “There is too much that is uncertain and unclear about this Bill that makes rushing it through both careless and callous.

“I have received thousands of e-mails from concerned citizens who are alarmed at the impact this rushed, ambiguous legislation is having on the very women that were originally traumatised by their experiences of Mother and Baby Homes.”

She said: “We cannot forget that the records and data we are discussing includes heart-breaking testimony from women that were let down by the State. To frustrate access and seal their personal accounts is to miss the point of the establishment of the Commission. It is unthinkable that these records - which are key to understanding the State’s failings of the past - will be locked away for 30 years, effectively for another generation.”

Under the existing 2004 Commissions of Investigation Act, the records held by the Commission can be deposited with the Minister on dissolution. Deputy Tully believes this is the course of action that should be taken.

Sinn Féin is preparing to submit substantial amendments that will facilitate the depositing of the Commission’s records with the Minister and reaffirm the right of access to personal data.

“We are urging the Minister to scrap this unnecessary piece of legislation, and to instead consult with survivors and families for the purpose of drafting legislation that meets the needs of survivors and the moral obligations of the State,” said Deputy Tully.